Irish and Portuguese - Genetic similarity

It might seem a little uncanny, but a recent genetic research shows that there are strong similirities between the Y chromosome  haplotypes from the males of northern-western Spain and of Portugal with the Irish men who often appear with Gaelic surnames, but not just that group.
The frequency of Y-DNA haplogroup R 1b which is the most common haplogroup in the continent of Europe, is in fact the highest in the populations of the Atlantic Europe, and also due to the mass European emigrations, it is also very common in North America, South America and Australia. Another example is Irland and the Basque country, this haplogroup's frequency exceeds 90% and approaches 100% in Western Irland.
The incidence of R1b is almost 70% or even more in the Celtic regions of Cumbria and Cornwall in England, also in the Celtic North region of Portugal (Douro, Minho, Trás-os-Montes e Beira Alta), Northern Spain (Celtic Galicia, Asturias, León, Cantabria and Basque Country), Western France (Béarn, Gascony, Guyenne, Saintonge, Augoumois, Aunis, Poiton, Touraine, Anjou and the Celtic Brittany) and of course the six Celtic countries which remained Celtic speaking throughout the Middle Ages ( Brittany, Wales, Cornwall, Isle of Man, Ireland and Scotland). 
The R1b's incidence declines gradually with distance of course, but it is still very common across the central areas of Europe. For example, the R1b is the most frequent haplogroup in Germany and in the low countries, and is common in Southern Scandinavia as well and in Norther Italy.
The majority of Irish people and all natives from the British Isles primarily descend from an "Iberian refugium" population dating back to the last ice age.

These connections got stronger when the Celts started their migrations during the late Bronze Ages (1200 BC) and spread all over Europe, thousands of Celtic tribes that settled in so many European regions forming the first nations of each individual country we have today. For example the Lusitanians (which probably had another name since they are of Celtic origins and the name was given to them by the Romans in the late Iron Ages) a Celtic tribe that settled in Central Portugal, its with them that the History of Portugal begins in terms of the very first portuguese nation to be formed in portuguese territories. This tribe of Celts had strong connections with the other Celtic tribes of North-Western Spain (Galicia) all the way to today's Austria via trade routes that linked the Celtic World. When the first Celts invaded Irland and settled there, one of the major Celtic tribes that went there were in fact the Lusitanians, almost a 1000 years before the Celts gradually infiltrated Britain.

Leif Eiriksson - The first European in The New World

I know it wasn't Columbus day by the time i wrote this, but its been a long time since i have written about anything related to the Norse culture and history. So i will be writing about Leif Eiriksson, the first European to step into the unknown New World later called, America.

During the Columbus day, we celebrate the great achievements of this man, no doubt about about it, he really accomplished something extraordinary, however, this day also means the extinction of so many people and cultures, or the events that led to that by the Spanish during this time and the years after when the Portuguese found the south America which was a very hard time to all the indigenous inhabitants all over the Americas.

Nowadays we know of a man who step into this new world 500 years earlier than Columbus, Leif Eiriksson, a Greenlandic settler, the real European ( that we know of so far ) to first enter the New World.

Who was Leif ?

Leif was the son of Erik/Eirik the Red ( Erik Thorvaldsson ), the famous Norwegian, outlawed from his native country for manslaughter, and then fleeing to Iceland to escape justice. When Eirik arrived there, he married Thjodhild, who bore him four children, one of those was Leif, before he was involved in other killing acts, and was outlawed once more. By this time, he fled further west into Greenland, where he remained for three years, waiting for his sentence to expire, and he was the first Norse man to make settlements in that land. After those three years, he returned to Iceland, telling other about the new land he found, which led to more settlers to go there and inhabit the territory. He returned to Greenland, where he built a farm at Brattahlíð near Narsarsuaq today.

Like his father, Leif was an explorer and had already sailed by this time to Norway, where he became the Hirðman* of King Olaf Tryggvason. While Leif was in Norway, he was converted to Christianity, haven't he done so, he would probably had an horrible time before he was killed, for King Olaf often tortured those who didn't want to be christianised, or would torture until they accepted. However his father, Eirik, remained pagan till the end of his days.

Leif knew that there was a land far to the west of Greenland, for another sailor called Bjarni Herjólfsson, had seen the sight of it, and of course to Leif this was an irresistible adventure, and so he mounted hos own expedition. According to legend, His father would also join him in his quest if he hadn't fall from his horse when riding towards the ship, he took this as a bad omen and remained in land. 

It isn't clear into which places he first sailed about into this New land, but it is clear that he went to Newfoundland, where he gave the name of Vinland, the place where he and his crew  built a settlement, which was later named Leifsbúdir after him of course.

Leif returned to Greenland with some grapes and also timber, which was scarce in Greenland, and this need of having wood to build, led to many more voyages into Vinland, however no one remained there to make a living, for they always return to Greenland, back to their homes.

Vinland wasn't empty of course, and there are many accounts of interections between the Norse people and the natives of that land, to whom the Norsemen called Skrælingjar. Leif's brother Thorvald is thought to be the first European to initiate contact and of course the first European to kill the people he met.

All of these findings had little importance to the Norse people by this time it seems, however people talked about it, so it is possible that Christopher Columbus on one of his voyages to Iceland, had heard about Vinland and the other lands to the west, and so he decided to start his own adventure.

Leif finally settled on the family farm in Greenland with his wife Thorgunna and their son Thorgil. It is said he was a wise man who spent his days converting people to the new religion, much to the consternation of his own father who was still a pagan man, however, this was of much delight to his own mother, it was she who built ( or asked to ) the first church in Greenland, Thjodhild's Church.

Leif isn't as well known as Columbus, but in many places his voyages to Vinland are celebrated, as Leif Eiriksson's Day

* The king’s Hirðman was some kind of bodyguard and also an adviser of the King, incorporated into the army.

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